HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17182, 27 October 1923, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EVE FOR EVERYTHING. A “ FRUITFUL ” OFFER. V member of the Bath (England! City Council has offered to present a large number of fruit trees to ba planted in the public parks of Bath. Fruit trees with their blossom in tha spring and fruit in the autumn would* lie .said. l*e beautiful at both seasons. It would be a lesson in self-control for the boys of Bath. They could not tell what the children would do until they tried them, and they should not condemned beforehand. If some of the children were as bad as was <cng gested. whose fault was. it? Oonld they blame the children? It was tho grown-up men and women who were responsible for the conduct of the children of to-day. TWO TONS OF FAMILY. E. R. Brown, of Ravenna, Ohio TT.S.A.. hag a family history that few can equal in unique features, and it is doubtful if any can surpass, inuring the fifty years of his married life, the stork has paid eight visits to hi* house, leaving twins, a boy and a girl, each time. The first of hia sons foL lowed his father's example, and wa« the father of six pairs of twins. Brown was a half-breed Indian, and his wifa was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. At the Chicago World's Fair the family had a reunion. The twins were afl weighed together. They weighed over two tons, while the biggest alone weighed 3501 b. SINGING TO THE JURY! An odd method of settling lawsuits :s practised bv some of the remotsf tribes of Eskimos When two wish to settle a dispute, each collect* his family and friends to assist him. The parties meet at an agreed time in the biggest hut in the village, and proceed to sing literally at each other The plaintiff's party chant a series of rough verses insulting the defendant and everything that is his. Then comes Jhe rival party's turn, and for the next hour or so they are allowed to sing at their enemy, putting their insults into some sort of metre. The old men of the village act as judge and jury, and the verdict is given to the side which, in the opinion of the aged experts, has compressed the largest amount of insult into the best verse and the most noise. PLANTS KEEP*ITS HEALTHY. The plants growing in pots which wa use to decorate our rooms play a grewt part in keeping us fitl especially in hot. dry weather. The roots of the plant dig deeply into the soil and spread themselves in every direction. Their mission is to collect water, which is pumped up into stem, leaves and flowers by means of a mechanism more efficient than anything the engineer has been able to design. When it reaches the foliage this moisture is given off into the atmosphere, which it makes fresh and cool. A single plant may give off into the air from a pint to a quart of water in twenty-four hours. Plants also serve to keep the air pnre. We take in oxygen from the air and breathe out carbonic acid gas. Plants, however, taka in this gas and give out oxygen.

WORLD’S MOST AMAZING MEN. The most amazing race of humaft beings is undoubtedly the El Molo, * Tribe of “Ashmen” who inhabit the desert wastes bordering Lakke Rudolf, in Kenya Colony, Africa. This tribe represents the only known specimens of semi-amphibious people, and it is a curious fact that any tribesmen dies if he is kept without water for about three hours. As a rule they dmik every hour during the day, for even an hour and a half without water causes cracking arid bleeding of the lips. The El Molo tribesmen spend their days swimming in the waters of Lake Rudolf, and fishing from frail rafts constructed with palm branches. Fish is almost their only diet, and they have no opportunity of varying their menu unless they are fortunate enough to spear a hippopotamus. The water cf Lake Rudolf is undrinkable to anyone but the El Molo, for it contains a large quantity of soda and has an objectionable taste. The proportion of soda in the lake increases yearly, ana it is believed to be this fact that has caused the “ fish-men ” to become a deformed race. AMAZING APPETITES. Our forefathers seem to have been mighty men. who thought nothing cf riding 100 miles a day or of performing feats of pedestrianism from which we would shrink. Is it possible that we are becoming more feeble because we do not eat enough? Even fifty vears ago meals were far more heavy than thev are now- one has only to read Dickens to realise this. Our grandfathers would have felt starved on tho diet that most of us find sufficient. But if we go back a few centuries we find appetites that seem amazing. Louis XIV. of France, who had the reputation of being a very moderate trencherman, used to breakfast off four cutlets, a whole chicken, four or five eggs, and some ham. The records of a dinner given by Henrr YIIT. show that each guest consumed nearly half a stone of food. The fish course alone included eels, salmon, pike, barbel fnow considered quite unfit for food! mullet, and sturgeon. Catherine dc Medici offered her guest* n feast in 1545 at which the roasts alone—there were a dozen other course# consisted, of peacocks. bustards, pheasants. capons. herons. swans, cranes, geese, hares. rabbits, deer, pigs, quails, and ducks. LIVING THROUGH FIRE Nature devises amazing ways of enabling her children to survive extra* ordinary hardships. None of her inventions has more wonderful power* of endurance than the seed by mean# of which plant life is carried on. You may subject certain seeds for hours to a. temperature of IQO degrees below freezing point, you may heat them until they are hot enough to burn your hand, yet they will not lose their Vitality. In America huge fire# sometimes rage through the forests, destroying mile after mile of giant tree<. Where the fire boa passed there remain nothing apparently but charred stumps and flame-scarred, smouldering soil. Yet within a lew months the whole district will be green with the first leaves of tiny seedlin4 trees. When testa were made recently to discover the heat at graundlevel during a forest fire, it was found that it was from 10*10 to 1500 degree# Fahrenheit. The fires move **o quickly that this intense heat- lasts only for a minute or less at any spot. Various tree seeds were then tried to fee what heat, they could resist. It was found that- fir cone? f*oa!d withstand a temperature of 1200 degree# Fahrenheit for eight minutes without losing their vitality